


silent in the trees

by odetosleeps



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Anxiety, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Panic Attacks, it isnt that sad. honest, why did i think it was a good idea to write this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-17
Updated: 2015-08-17
Packaged: 2018-04-15 06:40:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4596693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/odetosleeps/pseuds/odetosleeps
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I love you Ty, I always have. Always will."</p>
            </blockquote>





	silent in the trees

**Author's Note:**

> I thought of this idea in maths class and stayed up til 3am to finish it. I hate twenty one pilots.

It was 6:30pm.

They had landed in Columbus just under an hour ago and by this time were hyped up on pre-concert nerves. This obviously wasn't unusual; they had already performed 5 shows this week and, in all certainty, they were exhausted. Despite all the overwhelming positive energy Josh was giving off from being back in his hometown; Tyler, to say the least, was not too cheery to be back. Especially on this day.

* * *

 "Hey Ty, you okay?"

He must have been wandering off in his hideous thoughts again. Tyler has a tendency to do that a lot.

"Tyler!"

Tyler snapped up as his best friend's voice brought him back into reality.

"Yeah, ye- sorry bro, I just have a lot on my mind" He replied, trying almost too hard to cover his emotion.

Josh had forgotten up until this point. How could he have forgotten? Tyler was his best friend and he had actually forgotten what day it was?!

"-fuck. Fuck fuck fuck, Ty I completely forgot, oh my god I'm so sorry"

It was originally Josh's idea to return to Ohio after touring around the continent for weeks. Brendon had planned a free 'private' show for the local residents of Columbus to come see their hometown band perform live. By "private" it usually meant if you knew about the show, then you could turn up. Brendon was already at the venue and had sent a couple photos to Josh of some of the fans who had camped out overnight. From the looks of it, they had a full house tonight.

Tyler was still absently staring at a crack in the pavement when their taxi arrived. The driver (a short man with blonde hair), quickly hopped out of the vehicle to attend to Tyler and Josh's luggage.

Meanwhile, the duo hastily entered the back of the yellow cab and waited patiently. Josh could see his friend of the corner of his eye mindlessly fiddling with a loose thread of his jeans; he knew he must have upset him. Josh made the wrong decision to solicitously look up at Tyler who, at that exact moment, decided to look up to his brown-eyed friend too. For a little while, the two just stared at each other. Tyler had never noticed how beautiful his friends eyes were up until now. They were, as he would describe them, the perfect shade of chocolate brown with a hint of emerald. The two immediately broke eye contact the minute they were (rudely) interrupted by the driver.

"So whereabouts am I taking you boys?" The driver asked a little to eagerly while attempting to overtake a red mini-van.

"Uh.. 1722.. North High Street? Um, Newport Music Hall" Josh replied whilst awkwardly trying to read the address Brendon had texted him.

"Nice! A venue! Who you guys seeing?"

They both knew this man only trying to be friendly and make conversation, but neither were in the mood for it. Josh lied through his teeth.

"Just a local band, you know. No one major"

Tyler smiled.

"Sounds fun! I hope you have a great time anyway!"

* * *

The ride was going well and all was pleasant aside from the torrential downpour and extreme traffic outside. Then Tyler brought it up.

"Josh, I-"

He choked a little.

Josh had been entranced in a game he had recently purchased on his phone but immediately drew his attention towards Tyler the second he saw something was wrong.

"Josh. I-. I don't think I can play this show tonight"

Tyler could feel his eyes welling up; his heart and head were kaleidoscoping with painful memories and suddenly he couldn't breathe.

"It-It's been a year, Josh! A fucking -year!" He only just managed to draw in a deep enough breath to say.

With that, Josh instantly grabbed hold of Tyler's hand and held it like it was the most important thing in the world.

"I-I can't do th-this"

Tyler hastily pushed the door of the still vehicle open and clambered out. His heart was beating so fast he barely noticed the icy cold droplets hitting his skin. Through ragged breaths, he ran. Ran with no intention or care of going anywhere.

Josh quickly shuffled over to the open door and scrambled out; apologising to the driver at the same time. "Ty, please!"

Tyler could hear his best friend calling him but continued to flee until he met an alleyway. At least he'd be safe and alone here. Hot, salty tears were flooding his cheeks and dripping off his chin; he hadn't had a panic attack like this since last year.

The red-haired man eventually caught up only to find his bandmate in a worse state than he was before. Josh rushed over to the crying man; instantly huddling him into his arms.

Tyler opened his mouth to say something, anything, but all that came out were gut-wrenching sobs that tore through his chest and convulsed his small body.

"I can't do this" he choked. "It's been a year since Maddy's death and everyone just expects me to put on a show! Here! On this date, in the fucking city she took her life in!" His sobs echoed throughout the alleyway.

"I'm not strong enough Josh, I-I'm really not." Josh turned to look at him. "I wake up every day contemplating my purpose. I'm weak a-and useless and I could have saved her I-" Josh released himself and brought up his hands to cup Tyler's face. It was now or never.

Without hesitation, their lips met. Tyler was still at first and Josh was sure he had just fucked up. He definitely did not expect Tyler to push harder into the kiss. They exchanged breaths as Josh allowed his hands to entwine in Tyler's wet hair. 

A minute or so passed before Josh broke their kiss. Tyler sighed at the absence of his 'friend's' touch as he looked up. Josh lowered his hands to Tyler's cheeks once again and gently brushed away a stray tear.

"Please never talk that way about yourself ever again, you hear me? Maddy's death was not your fault" Tyler's eyes were beginning to glisten. "You're so fucking important to me I literally cannot stress that enough."

"I love you Ty. I always have. Always will."

Tyler wanted to cry again. Instead he grabbed Josh's shirt, pulling him forward, and closed the gap between their lips. The kiss was passionate, though only lasting for a split second. 

Josh smiled whilst resting his forehead against Tyler's.

"We really should get going. The taxi's still waiting." 

Tyler grinned.

"I'm sorry.. I'm sorry for everything, Josh. I'll do the show tonight, I know Maddy will have wanted me to."

"She would. She'd be so proud of you, Ty. I know that."

Josh could tell he was on the verge of tears again so he slipped his hand into Tyler's, causing a small smile to erupt on his face.

The two walked back to the taxi, hand in hand, smiling inside and out; quickly fastening their pace when seeing how pissed the taxi driver looked.

* * *

  _"So the theme for tonight was to just stay alive. Please. You got people around you who are going through stuff, okay. I'm going through stuff... We're going through stuff.. We're trying to figure it out. Sometimes I feel like we're not allowed to talk about it, but I'm telling you what. There's people that are killing themselves, there's people struggling with.. depression and. You're not alone, okay? I don't have anything else to tell you other than you're not alone and I hope you remember that after tonight. So stay alive, it gets better tomorrow, I promise."_

Tyler made one swift glance at Josh before proceeding.

"We've got one more song for you. I'd like to dedicate it to my best friend, Josh Dun." Josh felt himself going red as the audience roared. "This man has helped me through so much and the least I can do is thank him, so please give it up for my good friend Josh Dun everybody." 

The audience went crazy but gradually died down as Tyler started to play the first notes of the song.

"This song's called Trees"

**_I know where you stand, silent in the trees_ **

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This was terrible I know. I'm not the best at writing but I hope you enjoyed :)


End file.
